In pictures: Snow blankets Europe

Snow swept England from Manchester in the north to Kent in the south. Here lorries stand on the hard shoulder of the M25 motorway in Reigate, Surrey.

In France, 12 regions in the frozen east and centre banned the use of lorries, forcing more than 7,000 of them to park overnight.

Thick snow across Germany blocked roads, and caused airports to cancel flights and schools to shut. Bild newspaper said it was the coldest 1 December in centuries, with -18C reported. Here a worker clears a car park in Spitzingsee, Bavaria.

These children in the French city of Lyon took advantage of the weather for a snowball fight.

At least eight homeless people were reported dead in Poland, where temperatures fell to a record -26C in Bialystok.

Moscow saw its coldest 1 December in nearly 80 years, recording -23.6C. However, the city saw no snow because of a cyclone from the Balkans.

Northern Italy saw heavy snow. Here a woman clears the area before her house in Appiano Gentile, near Milan.

A robin stands in snow in a Manchester park. Such traditional images of winter in England are usually confined to Christmas cards but this December has brought snow early and with a vengeance to northern Europe.

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